Colleges, Schools, Teachers: between Church and State in Northern Italy (XVI-XVII centuries)

This study investigates the network of secondary education in Northern Italy in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Citing specific examples, the Republic of Venice, the State of Milan, the Duchy of Savoy, it brings into the discussion new information as well as recent research, showing how the Church used education to re-establish its position in society. By providing a sample of individual establishments from different social and political setting, the author tries to promote a 'history of comparisons' among the schools (or rather, a 'correlated history of schools') and provide information for an atlas of Italian scholastic institutions, that a group of national universities is now in the process of preparing. It is not the scope of this study to investigate the transition from medieval to early modern school systems. Rather, this article charts the response to a profound crisis that affected education in the mid-sixteenth century: the political impact upon the educational system, demostrating the unifying role of the Catholic Church but also the ways in which each school system responded to the social and political needs of the local state. This work examines seminaria nobilium, colleges, and seminaries directed by the Society of Jesus, the Barnabites, and the Somaschans, connecting history and geography, social and economic factors.